EDITORIAL

50 Years of the Journal of Contemporary Asia

InAutumn 1970, the first issue of the Journal of Contemporary Asia appeared (see Figure 1).In 2020, we mark the 50th anniversary of the journal by briefly reviewing the past and bylooking forward.

Fifty years ago, the journal began as a response to the American wars in Vietnam,Cambodia and Laos and reflected a dissatisfaction with mainstream academic studies ofAsia and with the academy’s support for the USA’s imperial forays into the region. Asnoted in our 40th anniversary editorial, the origins of the journal are located in the 1966–1967 International War Crimes Tribunal established by the philosophers BertrandRussell and Jean-Paul Sartre (Limqueco and Hewison 2010). The tribunal met in 1967in Stockholm. Of the journal’s ten-member Provisional Editorial Board in 1970, five hadbeen involved with the tribunal – Malcolm Caldwell, Jean Chesneaux, Gabriel Kolko,Peter Limqueco and Peter Weiss. The latter two collaborated with Ken Coates in editingthe Report of the Tribunal, with Noam Chomsky, who joined an expanded EditorialBoard in 1971, contributing a foreword to the Tribunal’s report (Limqueco, Weiss, andCoates 1971).

In the Beginning

An editorial in 1972 made it clear that the journal was launched with the “conscious andavowed purpose of extending support to the liberation struggles of Asia . . . ”. Five yearslater, an editorial explained that the journal eschewed Western Orientalism and encour-aged the “highest standards of analysis and description from a committed viewpoint.” Itadded that the journal was emphatically on the Left, but “non-sectarian, undogmatic, andfirmly committed to the anti-imperialist and liberation struggles of the peoples of Asia”(The Editors 1975, 3). This position was restated in 1978 as socialist states – China,Vietnam and Cambodia – waged war.

The first issues had contributions by progressive scholars in Europe, North Americaand Asia, with articles by Editorial Board members like Hamza Alavi, Keith Buchanan,Malcolm Caldwell, Noam Chomsky, Frederic Clairmont, Renato Constantino, GabrielKolko, Peter Limqueco, Stephen Resnick and Franz Schurmann. Other contributionscame from supportive scholars and journalists including Jairus Banaji, Peter Bell,Boonsanong Punyodyana, Anita Chan, Tamara Deutscher, Erich Jacoby, V.G. Kiernan,Michael Morrow, Joan Robinson and W.F. Wertheim. Sadly, Boonsanong, thenSecretary-General of the Socialist Party of Thailand, was assassinated in Bangkok inFebruary 1976 (Trocki 1977).

The journal eschewed government, corporate, foundation and “Cold War Institution”funding, and short notes in Issues 1 and 3 made calls for submissions, subscriptions anddonations. In Issue 1, there was also a call for nominations to the Editorial Board that

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would be geographically and disciplina-rily “balanced and representative . . . ”.By 1973, The Editorial Board hadexpanded to 17 members and includedLimqueco, Caldwell, Jonathan Fast andBruce McFarlane. Early in its life, thejournal had editorial and business officesin Sweden, Britain, the USA and NewZealand and representatives listed forFinland, Denmark, the Netherlands andAustralia. Subscription prices were mod-erate (see Figure 2).

As the journal developed, with a coremembership in place from the earliestissues, the editors were joined by scho-lars and activists like Joyce Kolko andHing Ai Yun. Some would join theBoard, including the first GeneralSecretary of the Campaign for NuclearDisarmament, Peggy Duff, radicalsociologist James Petras and economistsAlec Gordon and Melanie Beresford.Melanie joined the Board in 1984 andworked tirelessly for the journal and

Journal of Contemporary Asia Publishers (see below). In the new century, the Boardexpanded to include Shaun Breslin, Paul Cammack, Catherine Chiu, Michael Connors,Evelyn Devadason, Jim Glassman, Geoffrey Gunn, Vedi Hadiz, Kevin Hewison, JaneHutchison, Kwang-Yeong Shin, Herb Thompson and others.

Editorial Independence, Supporting Liberation

A feature of volumes published from 1970 to 1985 was the inclusion of a Documentssection. For most of the period until the late 1970s, many of these documents were fromvarious liberation and radical movements and, by the mid-1970s, newly-formed com-munist governments in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. When the China-Vietnam-Cambodia conflict erupted, the journal published documents from all three regimes.JCA also published documents on the independence struggle in East Timor, including astatement by Mari Alkatiri (1977) of FRETELIN who later served two terms as primeminister. In pre-internet days, the journal acted as a repository of documents that werenot readily available elsewhere, and often completely missing from the mainstreammedia. These documents were supplemented by Limqueco’s interviews with prominentfigures including Prince Souphanouvong, Nguyễn Khắc Viện and Pridi Banomyong aswell as his observations from liberated zones in Vietnam and Laos.

Another aspect of the early years was the Editorial. In the early days, politicaldebate permeated the Editorial Board and, indeed, all aspects of the journal’s work.One editorial reminded authors that they needed to “accept [the journal’s] priorities,

Figure 1. JCA’s first issue, 1970

6 EDITORIAL

which entail subordinating individual ambition, pride or self-assertion to the trans-cendent necessity of helping the liberation struggles in Asia as best we can.” Onedebate erupted over citation, leading to a long letter from Philip Corrigan (1975)making a socialist case for adequate citation and referencing. Over several years,editorials considered dozens of issues, including anti-imperialism, victories inIndochina, support for new regimes in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, and despairover conflicts between socialist states in the region. As the editors ranged widely,other editorials considered the prospects for communist movements in other parts ofSoutheast Asia, opposition to Leftist dogmatism, reiterations of the journal’s non-sectarian and non-partisan socialism, the West’s “meat fetishism,” political prisoners,India’s nuclear bomb and Indira Gandhi’s Emergency, the USA’s imperialism in Iranand ASEAN, labour activism, the 1965–1966 massacres in Indonesia and the Suhartoregime’s terror in East Timor, the 1976 royalist military coup in Thailand, the 1977coup in Pakistan, state capitalism, inequality and the need for a people’s history ofthe region.

Founding editor Malcolm Caldwell’s murder in Cambodia in December 1978 was asignificant loss for the journal (Figure 4). His death and legacy continue to be debated,usually in the shadow of his support for the Pol Pot regime that is thought by many tohave murdered him. Malcolm was enthusiastic, warm, generous, erudite and tenacious inhis work for the journal (see The Editors 1978; Gordon 2009) .

Malcolm’s radicalism flowed into the journal. Not everyone was happy about hisefforts, and in 1973 the journal mentioned an “arson attack on the JCA offices” inLondon. While Malcolm was passionate about the causes he supported, the journaloften carried articles and produced documents that were not in line with Malcolm’sfavoured positions. As former student Professor Ian Brown explained decades after his

Figure 2. JCA subscription rates, 1972

JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY ASIA 7

murder, Malcolm “was a gentle person, quietly spo-ken, and very tolerant of opposing views. He treatedeveryone well” (Anthony 2010).

Following Malcolm’s untimely death, JonathanFast (1975–1981) and Peter Limqueco (1970–2015)continued the work as co-editors, with BruceMcFarlane joining them as a co-editor from 1981,handing over to Kevin Hewison in 2005. Peterretired to become Editor Emeritus in 2015, havingdevoted energy and effort to the journal for morethan 45 years. Kevin became Editor-in-chief in 2015and has been supported by co-editors GeoffreyGunn, Rick Westra, Tak-Wing Ngo and TobyCarroll (Figure 5).

By the time of the journal’s 10th anniversaryissue, changes in political climate, capitalist intensi-fication and socialist waning had the editors obser-

ving a decline in tolerance from radical scholarship and a “growing neo-conservatism . . .sweeping the West and now making its incursions in Asian circles.” They also lamented a“cynicism and pessimism” that was “infecting”many who had previously stood with anti-imperialists. But this was not for the editors, who declared their pledge to “independent,committed socialist analysis of Asia,” averring: “Never before has there been so great aneed for the truth, clarity, and insight which is the necessary antidote to this spreadingintellectual malady” (The Editors 1980, 3). Present-day readers may feel that the com-mentary remains as relevant today as it was then and that the “intellectual malady” of1980 has become far more debilitating in the contemporary era.

Inevitably, as a progressive publication, the journal’s friendsand authors faced political repression. In its early days, thejournal often carried calls for solidarity with comrades facingstate sanction. Indeed, a 1972 issue carried a poem by journalistSaid Zahari, detained in Singapore in 1963 during OperationColdstore, held without trial for 17 years. Reflecting on therepression facing activists and socialists, the same issue carriedan Anonymous (1972) article on Singapore that was applaudedby the editors who commented: “We sincerely applaud theexemplary courage of . . . the author of this article who con-tinues to resist Lee’s [Lee Kuan Yew] tyranny.” The journal soonfound itself in trouble with the Singaporean regime and rumourhad it that copies in the library at the National University ofSingapore were locked away. Other authors found the need torequest anonymity or to publish under pseudonyms. As alreadymentioned, the threats could be very real and tragic, withBoonsanong assassinated in Thailand.

The editors’ commitment to independence was also evidentin the journal’s publishing arrangements. From the beginning,the journal was published independently, printed for a time by

Figure 3. Peter Limqueco withGeneral Võ Nguyên GiápPhoto credit: Peter Limqueco.

Figure 4. MalcolmCaldwell (1931–1978)Photo credit: From the Coverof Malcolm Caldwell, 1931–1978: A Tribute and aBibliography. Published bySpokesman Press for theJournal of Contemporary Asia,1979.

8 EDITORIAL

the Russell Press in Nottingham and then in Manila. However, changes in technologyand in the way that scholars and academic institutions operated meant that the journalneeded support from a commercial publisher. At that time, almost all subscribers wereuniversity libraries. While remaining independent, the journal’s co-editors entered into acontract with Taylor & Francis. That company back digitised all issues and gave thejournal its first online presence (since expanded with a blog), while keeping the journal’sprice within reasonable bounds. The journal’s move to the new publisher was marked bya gathering that heard from long-time Editorial Board member Noam Chomsky (seeFigure 6). Relieved of the management of the journal’s business, the co-editors undertookchanges that made the journal’s appearance more consistent, with more attention toediting and style and, since 2017, adding a fifth issue each year. The editorial stance of the

journal remains unconstrained and uninhibited bythe commercial publishing arrangement.

JCA Conferences and JCA Publishers

In 1979, the journal sponsored its first conference,“Asia: Problems and Prospects in the 1980s.” Heldin Stockholm over three days, it was attended byscholars from 16 countries and joined by tradeunionists, journalists and representatives of libera-tion movements. A brief report of the event notesthat it was lively and successful. In August 1981,some 150 people attended JCA’s 12th AnniversaryConference, held at Adelaide University (TheEditors 1982). The opening of the conferencewas marked by the support of workers and officialsof various trade unions, including one ofAustralia’s best-known unionists, National

Figure 5. The co-editors, University of Macau, 2018Note: From left: Carroll, Gunn, Westra, Hewison, Ngo.

Figure 6. Noam Chomsky and KevinHewison, Boston, 2007Photo credit: Gerald Dorey.

JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY ASIA 9

Secretary of the Amalgamated Metal Workers and Shipwrights’ Union, LaurieCarmichael (Dettmer nd). Carmichael spoke of the need for solidarity among workersacross national boundaries and the human rights situation in the region. An openingaddress by Deputy Leader of the Australian Labor Party, Lionel Bowen attacked neo-classical economics and supported Vietnam in defeating Pol Pot in Cambodia. A themeof the conference was the emerging and strengthening of domestic bourgeois classes inthe region. One aspect of this was not just a spirited critique of orthodox economics butalso of dependency theory, earlier Marxist theories of growth and Maoism. A year later,at a JCA conference in Copenhagen, these debates continued, with a focus on thecapitalist economies of Southeast Asia. Other conferences were generally smaller andfocused on particular themes (see Figure 7).

By the time of the 20th Anniversary Conference held in Manila in late 1989, thediscussions were firmly focused on labour, capitalism, Marxist theory and the future forsocialism. Participants were from Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Pakistan, India,Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, Canada, Sweden, Netherlands andSwitzerland. That conference concluded with a view “that one phase of socialist scholar-ship is closing and a new one is opening,” and called for “work on economic growth [. . .]to be supplemented by ‘ecologically sensitive’ analysis” that recognised a crisis in “ThirdWorld countries” (The Editors 1990, 575). The enthusiasm for conferences, however,waned as expenses and organisational demands increased. Since the early 2000s, how-ever, the journal has held meetings of some or all of the co-editors in Manila, Seoul, HongKong and Tokyo. More recently, the journal’s liaison with the Centre for Macau Studies,University of Macau has seen small JCA workshops held, coinciding with meetings of theco-editors.

Figure 7. Participants at the JCA conference, 1985Note: Peter Limqueco in middle row (5th from left) with Bruce McFarlane immediately behind him.Photo credit: Detlev Haude.

10 EDITORIAL

In late 1985, the editors announced the establishment of Journal of ContemporaryAsia Publishers. This venture, managed by Peter Limqueco in Sweden and MelanieBeresford in Australia, offered the possibility of simultaneous publishing in severalcountries. The call for manuscripts indicated that the Journal of Contemporary AsiaPublishers had a scope similar to that of the journal. Several books emanated from theventure including a joint publication of Jomo K. S.’s A Question of Class (1988) withMonthly Review Press, several original works and a number of collected essays rangingacross political economy theory, capitalism in Thailand and Indonesia, East Timor,labour, and environment. Some 12 volumes appeared before that effort was abandonedto concentrate on the journal itself.

JCA Today

In 2020, the Journal of Contemporary Asia has changed from the publication that began50 years ago. But so too has the environment in which it operates. Readers who have beenwith us over several decades will have noticed these changes as the journal has dealt withthe challenges posed by politics, ideology and social and technological change. Thetechnological changes have been significant. In the period up to the 1990s, submissionswere usually beaten out on a typewriter and sent by airmail to the journal’s offices. If apaper was accepted, it was typeset, printed and bound into issues that were posted tosubscribers. Those days are long gone, with computers and digitisation having put thesubmission, refereeing, publishing and distribution online. Since the mid-2000s, thejournal has a website and a blog followed in 2014. More challenging has been the changesto academic publishing. Universities, like all institutions in capitalist societies, have beenshaken by neo-liberal economic and social policies and thoroughgoing processes ofbusinessification (Hewison 2018). Academic teaching and research is far more inter-twined with international capitalist enterprise, where academics and students are subjectto disciplines of measurement, testing and political orthodoxy.

Inevitably, the journal’s contents reflect these developments. Some universities offerincentive payments for publications in top-ranked journals, with rankings being madepart of promotion and tenure decisions. JCA ranks high, so we receive hundreds ofsubmissions each year, many of which bear surprisingly little relationship to the journal’sscope and aims. The journal has also endured through 50 years of both socialist andcapitalist crises. It has faced technological and generational change. And, it has succeededdespite the embedding of politically and socially conservative control of universities,including in Asia. Regrettably, many young scholars know little of the radical tradition ofthe journal or even of the theoretical and ideological debates of decades past. Inevitably,the result is a different kind of progressive scholarship, and this is reflected in thejournal’s pages.

But even as the scholarship has changed the journal’s authors continue to strugglewith political repression, censorship and self-censorship. Over the past couple of yearsthere has been an increase in the number of authors asking about publishing anon-ymously (see, for example, Anonymous 2018). Some authors and even a few reviewershave reported feeling under threat. In recent years, such issues have arisen for papers onIndonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, China and South Korea.Neoliberalisation and the reaction against it has seen states and capital return to blunt

JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY ASIA 11

measures of repression, augmented by technological surveillance that limits politicalactivism across the region.

After five decades, the journal continues its commitment to challenging the status quo, forsociety can only progress when the political, social and economic establishment is challenged.We reaffirm our support for scholarship that is liberating for all and provides justice for theoppressed. This commitment was no easy task when the journal was founded in 1970. It is noeasier now. As capitalism has been embedded everywhere, there are challenges but alsoopportunities for politically committed and progressive academic research.

In that spirit, this year’s issues include several items celebrating the Journal ofContemporary Asia’s 50th anniversary. There are three special issues on Marxianapproaches to the study of East Asia, the lasting impacts of the Cold War in Asia and onIndia, caste and class. There are also articles by several members of the Editorial Board andby some of the journal’s authors from up to four decades ago, including by Jonathan Unger,who first appeared in JCA in 1973 and Anita Chan, who first published with us in 1974.

Finally, we thank all of those who have subscribed to and read the journal andespecially those who have written for the journal, completed book reviews and acted asreferees. We are especially grateful to those who have served on the Editorial Board.Special mention must be made of Peter Limqueco (Figure 8), who has been with thejournal since the beginning, and the current co-editors Geoff, Rick, Tak-Wing and Toby,who give generously of their time for the journal. Their support is greatly appreciated.Without the remarkable contributions by these supporters, the Journal of ContemporaryAsia could not have navigated through 50 years of tumultuous change and challenge.

While academic fashions come and go, the Journal of Contemporary Asia remainscommitted to progressive politics. The arrow on our cover still points to the left.

References

Alkatiri, M. 1977. “The Democratic Republic of East Timor.” Journal of Contemporary Asia 7 (2):280–289.

Anonymous. 1972. “The Coming General Election in Singapore –Will It Be the Last One?” Journalof Contemporary Asia 2 (3): 270–273.

Figure 8. Kevin Hewison and Peter Limqueco, 2019

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Anonymous. 2018. “Anti-Royalism in Thailand Since 2006: Ideological Shifts and Resistance.”Journal of Contemporary Asia 48 (3): 363–394.

Anthony, A. 2010. “Lost in Cambodia.” The Guardian, January 10.Corrigan, P. 1975. “On the Politics of Bibliography: An Open Letter to the JCA Editorial Board.”

Journal of Contemporary Asia 5 (1): 87–88.Dettmer, A. nd. “Remembering Laurie Carmichael, 1925–2018.” Australian Manufacturing

Workers’ Union Website. Accessed September 1, 2019. https://www.amwu.org.au/remembering_laurie_carmichael.

Gordon, A. 2009. “Remembering Malcolm Caldwell (1931–78).” Journal of Contemporary Asia 39(3): 323–326.

Hewison, K. 2018. “Politics and Businessification: The Struggle for Civil Society.” In PoliticalParticipation in Asia. Defining and Deploying Political Space, edited by E. Hansson and M.Weiss, 21–38. London: Routledge.

Jomo, K.S. 1988. A Question Of Class. Capital, The State, and Uneven Development in Malaya.New York and Manila: Monthly Review Press and Journal of Contemporary Asia Publishers.

Limqueco, P., and K. Hewison. 2010. “Editorial: Forty Years of the Journal of Contemporary Asia.”Journal of Contemporary Asia 40 (4): 537–538.

Limqueco, P., P. Weiss, and K. Coates, eds. 1971. Prevent the Crime of Silence. Reports from theSessions of the International War Crimes Tribunal founded by Bertrand Russell. London: AllenLane.

The Editors. 1975. “Editorial. Dogmatism is More Dangerous than B-52s.” Journal ofContemporary Asia 5 (1): 3–4.

The Editors. 1978. “Malcolm Caldwell.” Journal of Contemporary Asia 8 (4): 469–472.The Editors. 1980. “Editorial.” Journal of Contemporary Asia 10 (1/2): 3–4.The Editors. 1982. “Twelfth Annual Conference Journal of Contemporary Asia, Adelaide 28–30

August 1981.” Journal of Contemporary Asia 12 (1): 121–128.The Editors. 1990. “Report on the 20th Anniversary Conference of the Journal of Contemporary

Asia on Asia: Capitalist Development and the Future of Socialism.” Journal of ContemporaryAsia 20 (4): 572–575.

Trocki, C. 1977. “Boonsanong Punyodyana: Thai Socialist and Scholar, 1936–1976.” Bulletin ofConcerned Asian Scholars 9 (3): 48–51.

Kevin HewisonEditor-in-chief

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https://www.amwu.org.au/remembering_laurie_carmichaelhttps://www.amwu.org.au/remembering_laurie_carmichael

In the BeginningEditorial Independence, Supporting LiberationJCA Conferences and JCA PublishersJCA TodayReferences